


All jokes aside, bereavement isn't a laughing matter

by chimesDissent



Series: No eleventh hour reprieve [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Parental Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-20
Updated: 2012-05-20
Packaged: 2017-11-05 16:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/408445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimesDissent/pseuds/chimesDissent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You gain a certain strength when you’re forced to deal with the death of a parent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All jokes aside, bereavement isn't a laughing matter

**Author's Note:**

> The imagery in this video is strange, but I believe it provides a particularly good background tune while reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27SbVk1i-RI&feature=related

You're 27 years old when your son drops into your life, but you're too distraught by grief to really think about any of that.

Your mother is lying face down on the ground and your hand is immediately reaching for your cell phone as you dial an ambulance.

Moving the young boy to the side, you check her pulse and for any signs of breathing. The emergency responder is on line with you and you rush out the details of the scene and your information with only half a mind.

There's no life beneath your fingertips and your world is narrowing into a dark space.

With all the delicacy you can muster, you grasp your mother's head and torso in the crooks of your arms and turn her over.

Her face is dirty and her glasses are skewed, so you grab at your handkerchief in your pocket and wipe her face clean. A professional prankster should always be presentable to her audience.

But you know this isn't a joke, even if the set-up's all there, laid out in perfect construction. Your mother has always had the highest gambit, even when the prank wasn't really hers.

The boy is crying now and when you glance at him, you notice he's fallen to the side, but can't get a good enough grip on the ground to push himself back up.

Gently you set your mother back on the ground, smoothing out her dress in the process. When the ambulance arrives, she'll look as splendid as always.

The boy's working himself in a bit of a fit, but children are like that when things aren't working out as they expect. Picking him up is a struggle as he continues wiggling himself, but you have many friends with children and you've learned well enough how to hold a toddler. When he's settled, he gives you a look and you see almost the exact shade of blue you saw in your mother's eyes.  
It stirs a little something within you.

The ambulance arrives shortly after and when the paramedics nod grimly, you accompany your mother to the hospital to fill out paperwork and get the boy checked out. There's no way he could have fallen the way he had without at least some damage, and you make sure to keep him awake in case of a concussion.

Absentmindedly, two names come into thought. Adam, the name of your childhood best friend whom you’ve missed greatly these last few years, and Johnathan, the name of the brother you always asked your mother for, but never received.

Johnathan Adam.

It's a terrible choice to make right now, but your mind is already digging into the possibilities of a life with a child as you sit, clutching him to your chest, in the back of a racing ambulance. But you're not so far removed from reality to understand that it will be a major commitment for the rest of your life. Social services will have to be contacted; after all, this may well be just a missing baby.

It would be good for you though, after a bit of time. Your mother always said not to cry at her death and you're doing a well enough job so far.

But you will grieve. You know this.

A fiasco with a baby will take months to handle at least, and that will give you months to comb through your grief like a proper gentleman should. You can use those months to prepare your mind, and your house, for a baby too. There's no need to run into this situation too hastily; fathers, too, will always do what’s best for their children.

The ambulance has pulled up to the hospital and nurses are rushing about, grabbing at your mother and the boy, and you just stand there watching as the boy grudgingly puts up with all the commotion and you're so proud of him for that.

And when the nurses caring for your mother's body begin to head in the opposite direction as the nurses with the boy, you stand there at the crossroads and realize all of the choices you will now have to make.


End file.
